In a recent interview, Paradox's CEO expressed concern that many publishers "see a big problem with Steam not being independent" from Valve. It reads in part:
Blend Games wrote:....It may seem wrong on principle for a game company to be in charge of the distribution of rival companies' games, but what's the real danger here?
Well, the real danger for a publisher using Steam, for example, is that they're feeding a competitor with money and resources. Consider the way Steam locks their customers into a download client; essentially they implement their technology in third party games, and force users to go through Steam in order to access games that the consumer paid full price for. What ends up happening is Steam builds an inordinate degree of control over their customer base and future revenues, and I don’t think many publishers are aware of just how much control they actually have.
This discussion was sparked by recent comments by Randy Pitchford. He said, among other things, that "It’s actually really, really dangerous for the rest of the industry to allow Valve to win." There's a bunch of digital distribution platforms coexisting right now. Do you think it's ever going to be possible for one to completely crowd out the competition?
Well I definitely agree with Randy about the danger. Even though there are other portals that do not use a client, and instead focus on retailing, creating strong value for the consumer, and rewarding users rather than forcing technology onto them, at the end of the day, "winning" simply boils down to the amount of traffic a particular platform has. Steam generates a lot of traffic from their community, but it’s also very easy to buy into the appeal of traffic numbers.
We believe being independent and working toward an open ended solution that delivers a smooth and fast retailing service is the concept of the future. The battle is far from over and I’m confident that there's plenty of space for more than one service to compete for the digital distribution throne.
Earlier, "Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford caused a bit of a stir this week by saying that Valve's digital games store Steam exploited smaller publishers" according to the same source linked to above.
Just some food for thought.
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So what does that make Gamers Gate and Impulse? They allow the same things as Steam. Keep track of purchases and can be downloaded to any system you own. Why only focus on Steam? Of course, Steam is crushing everyone else with their deals which happen every weekend.
I understand why Gearbox is threatened. Valve's games compete most directly with GB's. And it is certainly valid. Paradox's games, however, is about as far afield from Valve's business as one can imagine. Paradox should feel more threatened by the way Paradox does business. They have become a running a joke with regards to their initial releases (poke Jeff V). Plus, didn't Paradox have a significant stake in Gamersgate? At the very least, that is where Paradox initially committed itself (I smell "looosah"). My sense is Paradox wanted to be Valve (developer and publisher) and has failed on the latter.
Ultimately, though, I think Steam's benefit far outweighs its risk. I buy more games as a result of Steam and no less diverse set of games (probably more so when it comes to indie games). As for Valve's games, well, frankly, I was probably going to buy them anyway.
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theohall wrote:So what does that make Gamers Gate and Impulse? They allow the same things as Steam. Keep track of purchases and can be downloaded to any system you own. Why only focus on Steam? Of course, Steam is crushing everyone else with their deals which happen every weekend.
I'm not familiar with Impulse, but GamersGate is just a download client. You can burn the files you download to a CD/DVD and play them forever more. You cannot do that with Steam. You can only play Steam games through the Steam interface.
there is a way for creating a shortcut to a game, so you dont have to go through the online activation/steamap to play the game, once it's been downloaded to your hard drive.
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He's right, we should all stop buying Paradox games from digital downloaders but because it is dangerous to publishers (who otherwise have only more expensive options open to them) but because of the crapware that gets installed. Namely, a Paradox game that probably doesn't work.
Too lazy to link, but the developer of Red Orchestra, Tripwire Interactive, had their CEO speaking out saying that they're exactly the sort of small publisher Paradox was talking about... and that they don't feel exploited at all by Valve (and in fact, that they wouldn't exist as they are without Valve/Steam).
I am not crazy on Steam, but we all remember teh h4t3 for it when it first came out. Now you can acquire older games for a reasonable price and provides an easy outlet for small developers to sell their product without having to deal with the cost of finding a publisher.
Steam was not an original idea, but Valve kept working on it and it is now a great service. I was expecting Blizzard to try the same thing until they were bought by Activision.
I really only purchase games if I can get them on steam now. I’ve gotten to the point where I hate having to deal with CDs. Now of the 40 something games I have in Steam about a third are from indie developers that I never would have picked up otherwise. Because of that I would say Steam does far more good than harm for small developers.
Suck it up big boys get your bitch ass on steam! I'm currently trying to figure out how the heck to get my birthday/christmas lists on Steam. I don't want the boxed copies for my PC Games! Basically I'll end up having to ask for cash, which I don't really want to do...EB and such should just give in and start selling Steam gift cards
I was a bit surprised by Randy Pitchford coming out against Steam, considering Gearbox pretty much started out by doing that Half-Life expansion, uh, Opposing Force was it?
Looks like Valve and Steam are becoming pretty damn powerful, and naturally there's some railing against that. Maybe their power is growing too much, but until they screw me over once, I will continue to rely just about 100% on Steam for my games.
(Warning: I'm not an economist. I am, therefore, talking out of my ass. On the other hand, my ex-wife says I'm a smart-ass, so talking out of it may make some sense.)
I'm not so sure I agree with his idea of 'competition'. I'm leaving off the "they're trying to control everything, and they can turn off the competition" conspiracy theory crap.
First off, when someone buys Game X from Steam, Valve is competing with Gamestop and Wal-Mart, not the other developer. There is no question that Steam is dangerous for Gamestop's PC business.
The only thing you can say is that it gives one game company more money than the others. This would only be a major factor if it was an either-or market, and it isn't. We're not talking about an MMO where most people play either one game or its competitor. We're talking about a market where people play one game today, then another after they finish it. The only competitive games Valve even has out right now are TF2 and L4D, two online multiplayer shooters. Most of the games on Steam don't compete directly with those titles at all.
In fact, it goes both ways. Steam has become so popular that by including other companies' games when Valve has so few competitive titles themselves, they're pushing a lot of their customers toward their competition. Valve probably makes as much money right now by having successful competition than they do from their own games.
Sure, Valve has an advantage with the extra revenue stream, but another company's success (say, Gearbox's) is more about the quality, frequency, and support of their own games.
I can see where some people might not like the idea of giving their money to a publishing entity that also has a wing that develops games, but I do think they've done more for gaming and indie gamers than anyone else over the last 5 years. Yes, there are other delivery models (D2D, Impulse, etc...) but STEAM really is everything that Microsoft Live for Windows should have been -- and that shouldn't be ignored in terms of keeping PC gaming a viable, relevant market.
If only there was a PC gaming site that had the resources to do an interview with a good number of the indie and small developers that have published through STEAM to see what their experiences were in terms of sales and exposure.
For someone like Gearbox I bet is is frustrating as I would think your #1 retail option (in terms of volume) is Wal-Mart and without the ability to self-publish online you'd have to go with the STEAMS, D2D and Impulses. But I guess because Wal-Mart doesn't make games, you don't feel like you're taking it on the chin? I dunno.
I've made it no secret that I love STEAM. But I clearly remember being firmly against the idea back when it was first announced. I think they've done more for PC gaming than any stupid "Games for Windows" cardboard cutout I've seen on a display rack smaller than my own personal collection at Gamestop, that's for sure.
Newcastle wrote:there is a way for creating a shortcut to a game, so you dont have to go through the online activation/steamap to play the game, once it's been downloaded to your hard drive.
Zurai wrote:
I'm not familiar with Impulse, but GamersGate is just a download client. You can burn the files you download to a CD/DVD and play them forever more.
I don't believe that's right. For most games this is probably true, but IIRC, for at least one game I tried moving from one computer (with internet connection) to another (without) it failed to run.
As someone that's been using Goozex for about a year and a half now, it's pretty useless for newer PC games -- most of the AAA titles include DRM that has install limits or registrations that in some way limit the number of computers it can be installed on. So the PC game trading forum here (or anywhere) would have been gimped eventually.
Montag wrote:I will add that the biggest downside to Steam is that the trading forum will become less and less active with time. This makes me sad.
It's been slowing down for years. Before the move, we used to have to replace the list of games once a year because it was so active. The current one is four years old and gets a new post only every few months.
Smoove_B wrote:I can see where some people might not like the idea of giving their money to a publishing entity that also has a wing that develops games,
But this has been a common case since the dawn of PC gaming. Publishers either have their own internal development staff, and/or they purchase development companies and wholly own them. Valve is not treading any new ground here. What is different is they are taking over the roll of distributor. Most people don't know who distributors are in the first place; I couldn't tell you whether or not any of them are owned or managed by publishers.
As Broadband continues to get more and more powerful, I can easily see the day when you never leave your home to purchase *any* game. PC, console or otherwise.
And I think to myself, "Why exactly is this a bad thing?"
As Broadband continues to get more and more powerful, I can easily see the day when you never leave your home to purchase *any* game. PC, console or otherwise.
And I think to myself, "Why exactly is this a bad thing?"
Or movies. Or music.
Heck, even right now I can't remember the last time I actually went to a store to purchase a CD or DVD. It just doesn't happen. I rent movies via Netflix with a click of a button. I purchase music on the Zune store the same way. I've recently converted to Steam for all my PC game purchases.
The only two forms of entertainment I ever physically go out and buy are console games and books. The day is fast approaching when (current) console games will be deliverable via broadband, and if I get a Kindle this Christmas I'll stop buying books in the store.
“Ask the Tripwire Interactive employees if they feel exploited, as they move into their new offices paid for by the money the company has made on Steam. Or me, as I drive away from the company that was built from the royalties we made on Steam, in my sports car paid for by the royalties we make on Steam, to the home that I pay for with the royalties we make on Steam. If that’s exploitation, I’ll take a little more.”
...
Perhaps if there’s something to take from Pitchford’s concerns it’s to ask questions about the position Valve is now in. They certainly did provide lots of promotion on Steam for Killing Floor – a game you could argue directly competes with Left 4 Dead – both are multiplayer co-op zombie survival games after all. Were the position being abused Valve could have taken their cut from sales while squishing the rival game from attention. However, they did not. (You might well point out that since they’re receiving a cut, it wouldn’t make sense to hide the game.) But they could have.
It sounds like Paradox is seeing some sour grapes over the success of Steam vs. their baby, Gamersgate.
Steam has some downsides but also offers a lot of extra value for gamers. Plus, it gets a lot of eyeballs on your product. That's a great thing for small developers, as long as the increased exposure/sales is worth whatever cut Valve takes.
I agree that other providers need to keep competing and not just cede the DD space to Valve. It's good to have choices and great weekend sales battles.
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Freezer-TPF- wrote:
I agree that other providers need to keep competing and not just cede the DD space to Valve. It's good to have choices and great weekend sales battles.
That's one thing I will say has definitely increased over the last year -- the number of sales. Every week it seems like Impulse and STEAM are trying to juggle announcements for sales. At one point STEAM was making their "weekend" sale announcement on Friday afternoons. Impulse seems to have taken their Thunder a bit as they tend to announce their deals on Thursday nights so now STEAM likes to announce multiple sales -- some on Tuesday and some on Thursday.
All I know is that come Xmas, STEAM takes at least $50 of my money every year -- and the number of games I usually get is staggering.
Freezer-TPF- wrote:
I agree that other providers need to keep competing and not just cede the DD space to Valve. It's good to have choices and great weekend sales battles.
That's one thing I will say has definitely increased over the last year -- the number of sales. Every week it seems like Impulse and STEAM are trying to juggle announcements for sales. At one point STEAM was making their "weekend" sale announcement on Friday afternoons. Impulse seems to have taken their Thunder a bit as they tend to announce their deals on Thursday nights so now STEAM likes to announce multiple sales -- some on Tuesday and some on Thursday.
All I know is that come Xmas, STEAM takes at least $50 of my money every year -- and the number of games I usually get is staggering.
You want the power of Steam? Take a look at the number of people who bought Hitman this weekend. It now litters our fine community because of this past weekend's sale. People are going to start walking around the forum garroting each other.
You do not take from this universe. It grants you what it will.
It takes all my strength to not buy something weekly. I'm currently resisting Risen but if that sucker goes on ridiculous sale, all bets are off.
Also: It's THQ week (again). Every day is a new sale. Today is 50% off Titan Quest. I'm sure THQ is crying a river over their association with STEAM right now.
The Preacher wrote:You want the power of Steam? Take a look at the number of people who bought Hitman this weekend. It now litters our fine community because of this past weekend's sale. People are going to start walking around the forum garroting each other.
I came *this* close to joining their ranks. I have H:SA, but the idea of installing and patching it? Who does that anymore? The idea that Steam is bad for other non-Valve developers is absurd.
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Christians, Moslems, Hindus, Jews
And every other race, creed, colour, tint or hue
Get down on their knees and pray
The raccoon and the groundhog neatly
Make up bags of change
But the monkey in the corner
Well he's slowly drifting out of range
Greybriar wrote:In a recent interview, Paradox's CEO expressed concern that many publishers "see a big problem with Steam not being independent" from Valve.
I can only assume that he would say that GamersGate is lots lots better and everyone should use that.
YellowKing wrote:The day is fast approaching when (current) console games will be deliverable via broadband, and if I get a Kindle this Christmas I'll stop buying books in the store.
Ummm, I AM a console newbie, but isn't that day already here or am I mistaken? The only PS3 games I own have been downloaded via the PS3 store. I have not bought physical media in a B&M store in many many many many moons.
I remember when Steam first came out, there was a LOT of hate around these parts, for some reason, but I have personally welcomed our new PC gaming overlord with open arms. If it weren't for Steam and GameJackal, I would only play flash games. I'm just that lazy.
Seems like the only person that doesn't like Steam these days, is this guy Pitchford.
